Nexstar to buy Tribune Media for $4.1 billion

Nexstar Media Group has agreed to buy Tribune Media for about $4.1 billion, creating the largest owner of local-TV stations in the U.S.

Nexstar is acquiring Tribune with an all-cash offer that values the Chicago-based company at $46.50 a share, the two said in a statement Monday. Including the assumption of debt, the price amounts to $6.4 billion.

The deal stands to create a new king of local TV, unseating Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. Four months ago, Sinclair was forced to abandon its own takeover attempt for Tribune after the $3.9 billion transaction drew the ire of regulators. Nexstar had been interested in Tribune last year before Sinclair had agreed to buy it.

Nexstar outbid private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC, a person familiar with the transaction told Bloomberg News over the weekend. Tribune has now fetched a higher price from Nexstar — and a 16 percent premium over its closing price of $40.26 at the end of last week. The companies said the deal, which they expect to close in the third quarter of 2019, would add immediately to Nexstar’s results, including $160 million of synergies in the first year.

Tribune shares jumped 11.88 percent to $45.02 Monday. The value of $4.1 billion is based on its shares outstanding. Irving, Texas-based Nexstar, which closed Friday at $82.64, was little changed.

Nexstar has about 175 TV stations that reach roughly 40 percent of U.S. households. Tribune owns or operates more than 40 stations and the national network WGN America.